


Dragged Away

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2019 [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 17:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 6 "Dragged Away"





	Dragged Away

**Author's Note:**

> A sort of "pre-canon" type scene from The Queen's Mage

“Oliver, relax,” Thea said, watching her brother glance around the common room of the inn for the thousandth time. “We made it. We’re away.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Oliver muttered.

“Diggle was careful,” Thea tried to reassure him. “Mother doesn’t know where we are. She doesn’t even know that we’ve left.”

“She will,” Oliver said. “It’s only a matter of time before she realizes that we’re gone, and then she’ll send people after us.”

“And we’ll be far out of her reach by then,” Thea said. A pause, then she asked “What’s gotten into you? You were the one who wanted to do this, you were the one who made it happen, but now you’re more fearful than I was when you were convincing me to leave with you.”

“It just… seems to easy,” Oliver said. “I keep waiting for the anvil to drop.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Thea replied. “I trust Diggle, and I trust your plan. Nothing bad is going to happen.” There was a long silence, then Oliver said, “I thought I was the one who was supposed to take care of you.”

“Clearly, sometimes it has to go the other way around,” Thea said with a laugh, offering her brother a smile. He gave her a tentative one in return, and they lapsed into silence, finishing their evening meal in the comfortable quiet that came from years of a close relationship between them.

Later, as they were about to retire upstairs to their room for the night, Oliver did one last quick scan of the common room and froze. A group of armed men in green and gold Queen livery had just entered the inn, and not one of them bore the black starling badge on their clothing that marked members of the city guard. His mother’s men, then, every one of them, and there could be no mistaking what they were there for.

“Thea,” Oliver said in a low, urgent voice, touching her on the arm to get her attention. When she looked toward him, he nodded at the group of a dozen armed men by the door and said, “Run. Upstairs. Now.”

“But what about-” Thea started to say.

“Now!” Oliver shouted, cutting her off, fear lacing his voice. His shout drew the attention of everyone in the room, including the men who were after them.

“Lord and Lady Queen!” one of them, clearly the leader, shouted. “The Lady Starling demands that you return home. Come quietly. There is no need for this to get ugly.”

“I disagree!” Oliver shouted back, drawing his bow. But even as he did, he realized it was useless. The space they were in was too small and there were too many innocent bystanders to allow him to use it effectively. He lowered it, and his mother’s men took that as their cue to attack, charging toward him and Thea, who hadn’t fled up the stairs like he’d told her, and scattering the rest of the inn’s patrons crowding the common room like leaves in an autumn wind.

“Thea, run!” Oliver cried, throwing himself into battle against them, desperate to give his sister time to get away. If only one of the two of them could escape, better it be Thea than him. He heard the faint thump of Thea’s footsteps on the stairs, followed by the heavier tread of one of the dozen men in the group separating off of it to chase her, and he fought with even greater desperation, trying to shake off the men attacking him long enough to stop the one chasing Thea.

Oliver fought fiercely, but his mother’s men had the advantage of numbers, and just as he managed to fight off the ones attacking him and turn to charge after the one chasing Thea, he saw her make it halfway up the stairs before the man in question grabbed her around the waist and drag her back down them. He did so in such a way that she collided with every step on the way down, but he seemed not to notice or to care that he was hurting her.

“Oliver!” she cried, reaching desperately for him as she was dragged away toward the door. Oliver whirled away from the stairs and charged toward her, but suddenly strong, rough hands were on his arms and shoulders, holding him back in a vise like grip that he couldn’t break free from no matter how much he struggled. Someone hit him in the gut, driving the air from his lungs and sending him to his knees. When he managed to get his feet under him again, Thea and his mother’s men were gone, leaving him to wonder why they hadn’t taken him too.


End file.
